“Naloxone has saved thousands of lives. But can patients be safely discharged from the Emergency Department (ED) just an hour after they receive the medication that curtails drug overdoses?

According to the St. Paul’s Early Discharge Rule developed in 2000, that’s how long providers should observe patients after naloxone treatment, so long as their vital signs meet specific criteria and they are ambulatory.

But the rule was never externally validated or assessed in light of the changes that have occurred in recent years with opioid use disorder.

That’s why University at Buffalo researchers conducted the current study, published today in Academic Emergency Medicine, and the first to clinically assess the rule developed at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.”

“Adamis announced that the New Drug Application (NDA) for its naloxone prefilled single-dose syringe has been submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Naloxone, an opioid antagonist, is used for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose. It antagonizes opioid effects by competing for the same receptor sites. Naloxone reverses the effects of opioids, including respiratory depression, sedation, and hypotension.

“With the rapid increase in synthetic opioid related deaths and the persistence of widespread opioid addiction, we believe that there is a need for additional treatment options to help combat this crisis. As the awareness builds for this growing epidemic, we are hoping to provide an affordable solution to patients at risk,” stated Dr Dennis J. Carlo, President and CEO of Adamis.”

“The opioid epidemic in the United States claims thousands of lives every year, to the point where many medical professionals are now taking extreme measures to help people who are suffering from addiction. For many, this includes carrying the drug naloxone on them at all times.

One such medical professional is Isela, a nurse specializing in addiction treatment at the Boston Medical Center. But the fact that she carries the drug on her in case she comes across someone who has overdosed on opioids has resulted in her being unable to get life insurance, as NPR reported.”

Buprenorphine–naloxone is preferred to extended-release naltrexone as first-line treatment when both options are clinically appropriate and patients require detoxification before initiating extended-release naltrexone.

“The U.S. government told doctors Wednesday to consider prescribing medications that reverse overdoses to many more patients who take opioid painkillers in a move that could add more than $1 billion in health care costs.

Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, a doctor appointed by President Donald Trump, announced the guidance, saying it’s important for doctors to discuss overdose dangers with patients.

Prescribing naloxone such as Narcan along with opioids forces a conversation that will lead to “a more informed decision by the patient,” he said.

The action comes a day after a close vote from a Food and Drug Administration expert panel endorsing the idea of rewriting opioid drug labels to include a naloxone recommendation for many or all patients. An FDA document said such a move could add more than $1 billion in health care costs.

“Blood work was supposed to be the last step in Isela’s application for life insurance. But when she arrived at the lab, her appointment had been cancelled.

“That was my first warning,” Isela said. She contacted her insurance agent and was told her application was denied because something on her medication list indicated that Isela uses drugs. Isela, who works in an addiction treatment program at Boston Medical Center (BMC), scanned her med list. It showed a prescription for the opioid-reversal drug naloxone, brand name Narcan.

That’s a message public health leaders aim to spread far and wide. “BE PREPARED. GET NALOXONE. SAVE A LIFE,” summarized an advisory from the U.S. surgeon general in April.

But life insurers consider the use of prescription drugs when reviewing policy applicants. And it can be difficult to tell the difference between someone who carries naloxone to save others and someone who carries naloxone because they are at risk for an overdose.”

“People who overdose on opioids have one lifeline, the drug naloxone, but two new studies find that many pharmacies won’t offer this lifesaving antidote without a doctor’s blessing.

Though many states have passed laws mandating that naloxone be made available without a prescription, researchers from California found that fewer than 25 percent of pharmacies in that state would give the drug without a prescription. And in the second study from Texas, investigators found that although 8 in 10 drugstores would dispense the drug, less than 7 in 10 had naloxone in stock.

Why? A lack of training, a lack of desire to make room for the drug on their shelves, and outright moral objections to giving an opioid user a medication that might encourage drug abuse, the scientists said.”

“Ohio Senator Rob Portman is calling out a drug company after they raised their prices 600 percent on an overdose reversing drug.

The drug is called Evzio and it will now cost $4,000. It’s a Naloxone product similar to Narcan but Evzio gives the user verbal instructions on how to use it.

Portman chaired a sub-committee investigating the opioid crisis and in the committee’s report, Portman estimated the state lost $142 million in taxpayer money because of the company raising their prices.

“It costs pennies to make this, it costs them a few bucks to make it and they’re charging $4,000,” said Hamilton County Heroin Coalition member and Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan.

Synan, who is a major player in fighting the opioid epidemic in Hamilton County, says Evzio is the only life-saving product that has jumped in price and the Virginia-based drug company that sells it is manipulating the system.”

“The Food and Drug Administration is considering requiring doctors to prescribe an overdose reversal drug with prescription painkillers such as OxyCodone, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced Tuesday.

The overdose antidote, known as naloxone, can save the lives of people who’ve suffered overdoses. The FDA may require the drug to be prescribed every time a patient receives an opioid to treat pain, or only if they receive a particularly high dose.

The move has been pushed by the makers of Narcan, a nasal spray version of the drug that people can use at home. The drug also comes in the form of an auto-injector known as Evzio, another form that people can use on someone who has overdosed even if they’re not in the medical field.”

“U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams called for a “cultural shift” in how Americans talk about opioid addiction, saying stigma is one of the leading reasons only one in four people with a problem get the treatment they need.

In a new “Spotlight” report, the Health and Human Services Department details ways families, doctors, educators and business leaders can open up about addiction or prevent it from taking hold in the first place.

For instance, it urges companies to reduce work-related injuries that could lead to opioid misuse and calls on family members to be “supportive (not judgmental)” in prodding an addicted loved one to get help. It also says family members should carry overdose-reversing naloxone.”